007 has now been on-screen for 40 years, going on 20 adventures. Over the years, special effects have gotten consistently more seamless, action scenes are always trying to top the latest one and movies in general have become a bigger business. This continues to be an issue lately, as franchises like "Star Trek" and Bond continue to face newer, sleeker competition. Aside from "XXX", which most have talked about as a new "Bond"-ian series, other films such as "The Bourne Identity" and maybe "Spy Game" have done Bond better lately.

"Die Another Day" is really just another Bond film - no more, maybe a bit less. The action is a cut above the last couple of pictures, the story is sufficently entertaining, but getting down to the bare basics, there's really nothing out of the double-0-ordinary for a Bond movie here. The picture opens with Bond surfing into Korea to do a diamonds-for-arms deal which goes sour when the bad guys in question find out that Bond's....well, Bond. He's captured, leading to fourteen months in a prison before being transfered out in a trade. His superiors are displeased, believing that Bond gave up secrets while in prison.

Displeased with possible suspension, Bond escapes, heading to both Cuba and Iceland in an attempt to catch Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens), the lead in a new weapons program. There's also an American agent called Jinx (Berry) and a North Korean agent named Zao (Rick Yune), who Bond was traded for to be released. Michael Madsen even shows up as a US agent, and Rosamund Pike shows up as a mysterious fellow MI6 agent.

Director Lee Tamahori takes over as a Bond director this time around and the results are simply okay. The movie starts off fairly well, with a nicely done action sequence, but the story by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade is awfully bland, making all the exposition mid-movie rather uncompelling. There's also a few noticably ripe pieces of dialogue. The action-heavy last quarter of the picture becomes ridiculous, and although the scenes are fairly good in theory, the effects are surprisingly mediocre (there's a surfing sequence late in the film that looks particularly bad, almost as if it was a few stages away from completion) for such a major production. Berry's light performance also seemed out-of-place in a film that seemed to lack the usual 007 humor. Hopefully, the character's spinoff (which seems odd, given that we really don't learn much of anything about her here) will be better. As for the villians, Yune makes a far better one than Graves, as Stephens' performance really wasn't at all intimidating. Sean Bean's villian in "Goldeneye" remains the best villian out of the Brosnan pictures (and, I think, the best of the Brosnan Bond films, as well.)

"Die Another Day" has moments, but it doesn't succeed in its attempt to be a little bit darker than the usual Bond fare and, as a result, the picture lacks the spirit and humor that these films occasionally weave in so well. I wonder about the choices of director for these films lately...while directors like Lee Tamahori ("Once Were Warriors" and Anthony Hopkins/Alec Baldwin picture "The Edge") and Michael Apted (the "7-up" series, the brilliant "Enigma") are talented filmmakers, they have never handled a movie of this size, nor have either really done action previously. Where's Tony or Ridley Scott when you need them?

Overall, "Die Another Day" certainly started off well, but it falls apart in the second half as it gets continually more ridiculous. Although absurdity in the action is certainly to be expected from a Bond film, the best Bond sequences in recent years (the tank chase in "Goldeneye", which was perfectly just over-the-top, with a few tidbits that showed the scene not taking itself entirely seriously) are at least somewhat grounded in reality and, while effects-driven, are largely built on practical effects and not computer-generated ones. Bond needs a stronger director, more experienced with action for the next one. Director Martin Campbell might be a good choice to return as director, as Campbell's "Goldeneye" offered the right balance of all of the Bond elements. Here's hoping that next one - whoever helms it - will be a lot better.